Respire #6 – Brahms, Shostakovich

22 August 2020, 20.30-21.30

Grand Hall

Festival Academy 2020

Respire #6 – Brahms, Shostakovich

Streamed onlyTime change

Dietrich–Schumann–Brahms: Sonata for Violin and Piano in A minor ('F-A-E') – 3. Scherzo (Brahms), WoO 2
Antal Zalai (violin), Gábor Farkas (piano)
Schumann: 5 Stücke im Volkston, Op. 102
István Várdai (cello), Gábor Farkas (piano)
Sergei Yesenin: Nem siratlak; Rád nézek, s szívem elszorul!
Piroska Molnár (actress)
Shostakovich: Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147
Maxim Rysanov (viola), Zoltán Fejérvári (piano)

„Frei aber einsam” – „free but lonely” was the personal motto of József Joachim, the greatest violin virtuoso of the 19th century, when he was surprised with a multi-author sonata with the title F-A-E. by three friends of his: Albert Dietrich, Robert Schumann and the twenty-year old Johannes Brahms, who would not reveal which movement had been written by whom. Joachim had no difficulty solving the riddle, however. Brahms’s scherzo movement – now performed Antal Zalai – carries all of its composer’s stylistic features. While the scherzo is one of the earliest surviving Brahms compositions, Shostakovich’s Viola Sonata is the very last piece of the Soviet composer’s oeuvre. The three-movement work, performed by the highly competent Maxim Rysanov – Zoltán Fejérvári duet, is a genuine epitome encapsulating the singular fusion of beauty and bitterness, Shostakovich’s unique hallmark. The closing C-major chord is just as ambiguous as everything else in his music: either it stands for the possibility that happiness can be reached in this world after all, or the opposite: that happiness is possible only in the afterlife.

Please note that the concert will start at 20.30 instead of 20.00.
Before the concert, musicologist Gergely Fazekas will give a lecture in connection with the concert programme from 8 pm. The performance can be attended with a ticket purchased for the 8.30 pm concert.

Presented by

Festival Academy Budapest

Tickets:

HUF 1 000